Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Comings and Goings and Doings

We seem to be pretty much back to normal this morning. I actually had time for a morning walk around the
neighborhood where I spied that fallen leaf shaped like a heart pressed into
the road surface.

Those leaves that blew all over creation Saturday night and
then fell to our roadway haven’t stood a chance this past couple of days.

They’re forever etched into the surface as
our South Center Valley Road has become the alternative route for locals who have sat through the
long wait on HWY 95 where the road is being seal coated.

I made that mistake the other day and sat for 35
minutes. I was headed to Samuels Store
for an afternoon coffee but dropped that plan after we creeping close enough to
Colburn-Culver Road to escape an even longer wait.

So, I’m suspecting a lot of our increased traffic load has
figured out the same strategy for getting anywhere north or south in a
reasonable time frame.

This will last for a while, just as ALL the road work has
throughout the summer. Just when we
think we’ve found the right routes, big trucks, orange cones and flag people
show up. No offense to my friend Cherry
who runs a flagging operation.

It’s just that we can’t outwit the next roadwork zone. Some day everything north of town and east of
town will be completed, and we’ll be streaming through with ease. For now, it’s a guessing game.

Anyway, that heart-shaped leaf took my eye this
morning, so I played with some special effects on the photo.The rising sun over the neighbor's place on North Kootenai Road created a lovely silhouette, and the bottom photo serves as just another reminder of why I love living out here. That's the scene when we turn off Selle Road to get to our house, and I never tire of it.Cows on the run: that happened yesterday after a Northside Fire truck went zooming past with its siren going. Out here in the neighborhood occasionally some of us do turn into "ambulance chasers."I decided to see where the truck was headed in such a hurry, and I encountered my neighbor Colleen out walking the road. She suggested that they might be using our road as an alternate route----first time it dawned on me why we had so much traffic.Anyway, I drove on north to spot Colleen and Jack's cows on the run through their field. Maybe it was the siren, but more than likely, the flies were attacking and they needed some shade. Once in the trees, they settled down to being contented cows. It was nice to have a quiet day yesterday for catch-up after the storm. I picked more beans, gave all gardens an extra dose of water, mowed a little lawn, found the panel for the greenhouse door and emptied that sludge water out of the horse tank.Its water is almost crystal clear. The tank is also sitting atop two new boards, making it once again level, as the pallet where it sat for a few years broke, leaving the water tank leaning toward the west. Lefty enjoyed a nice cool-off with the hose in the late afternoon, and inside the house, dinner consisted of 80 percent homegrown food (salad and the first taste of boiled garden veggies). Only the Tillamook cheese and Longhorn German sausage came from the store.The relative quiet of these post-storm days will turn crazy again this weekend with the POAC Arts and Crafts Festival at the beach (Debbie's first go-round with this Saturday-Sunday event), the Festival at Sandpoint at Memorial Field and the Celebrate Life walk across the bridge.I have a feeling the town will see its largest weekend of activities for the year, and we're all hoping the weather cooperates and that each event sees great success.Tomorrow or the next day I'll have a special post written by a good friend about a mutual friend whose memory inspires every year of Celebrate Life.Stay tuned. Stay cool. Happy Wednesday.